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Showing posts from November, 2015

Fight back Govt of India's dilution of COD nofrms for sea discharge

By Rohit Prajapati* “Achievable” environmental norms—rather than the “caring capacity” of the environment—are the criteria for the prescribed norms for India’s Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF & CC). Let us fight back the dilution of COD norms from 250 mg/l to 500 mg/l for sea discharge by MoEF & CC; the proposed changes are not based on study but based on the discharged norms which industries might be able to achieve. The MoEF & CC is waiting for “right-time” to make an announcement. This approach of “dilution as the solution” to deal with violations of norms by the present MoEF & CC has been carried over since the former MoEF and continues to deteriorate and deplete the environment at irreversible levels in industrial clusters of India. It is a shameless attempt to condone industrial expansion even in areas where there is evidence that the environment is already ‘critically polluted’. Now we are in an era where the three ministries of environme

Let’s hope one day each one of us has the humility to be more tolerant

By Fr Cedric Prakash SJ* Never before in the history of post-independent India has “intolerance” become such a subject of heated debate, much divisiveness and which seems to bleed the heart of ‘the idea of India’. Intolerance, one might argue has always existed! We see small and big acts taking place all over society and even in the security of one’s own family. As Indians, we do pride ourselves of being a ‘tolerant people’ and we certainly get very upset when growing acts of intolerance hog the limelight. In a defense reaction, we put on a mask saying “we are not like that”. This was so evident, when a few days ago, a motley group met the President and the Prime Minister ‘to protest’ against those who were saying that India is becoming an intolerant nation! The irony is that this very group was abusive of some of the media present at their protest and they also made very intolerant remarks against those taking a stand against intolerance! In recent months, there have been a spate of

Selecting judges: RTI Act provides recipe for transparency in SC Collegium

By Venkatesh Nayak* In a novel step the Supreme Court of India has created a space for people to give their ideas and views about what needs to be done to reform the manner of working of the Collegium system which has been in existence for several decades. The Collegium comprising of the senior most judges of the Apex Court is responsible for identifying candidates from the Bar and the Bench for elevation as judges of the High Court and the Supreme Court. Earlier, the Apex Court thwarted the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Government’s attempts to replace the Collegium by setting up a National Judicial Appointments Commission (NJAC). The NDA Government not only pushed through a law for setting up this Commission in Parliament but also got the Constitution amended to enable the establishment of this body. The Apex Court struck down both laws holding them unconstitutional. There are several comments from experts in the public domain both welcoming the judgement or being critical abo